Anesthesia Resident Spotlight: Kyan Safavi, MD, MBA

Kyan Safavi, MD, MBA is a resident in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Prior to residency at Mass General, Kyan received his MD and MBA degrees at Yale. He is the co-founder and CEO of Position Health, a health tech startup based in Boston. He is an inaugural Partners Connected Health Innovation Fellow and Innovator in Residence at the Mass General Healthcare Transformation Lab. He serves on the Mass General Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine Quality and Safety Improvement Committee and the Mass General Housestaff Quality and Safety Committee. He works under Dr. Peter Dunn in collaboration with MIT on systems engineering improvements in the Mass General Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Kyan will be starting a critical care fellowship at Mass General in August 2017.

Interview and Selection Process

During the interview process and your visit to Massachusetts General Hospital, did anything stand out?

Yes, the opportunities. Mass General is a hospital that offers the chance to have a world class experience in so many areas: clinical training, research, innovation, quality improvement. The Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine is fully engaged in all of these areas and the leadership, from our chair to our program director, truly care about affording you the chance to take advantage of what you find most exciting. The hospital has the opportunities, and the program allows you, as a trainee, to actually take advantage of them.

What made you pick Mass General’s Anesthesia Residency Program?

The six-month research elective in the CA-3 year was a truly distinguishing trait. If you want to forge a career path that includes non-clinical work (research, health policy, quality improvement), it is a huge advantage to have the elective. Second, I knew that I would get an absolute top-notch clinical training. Third, I am interested in critical care and Mass General excels at that (in addition to many other areas). Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I felt that the leadership was truly interested in enabling me to pursue my passions.

Residency Projects

Could you describe a project that you participated in during your residency?

I am working with Peter Dunn, MD, in collaboration with MIT operations engineering experts to improve the flow of critical care patients through the hospital. We amassed data on bed movements, patient demographics and comorbidities, surgical procedures, provider orders, and more. We built a model to understand the impact of a delay in transferring a patient from the surgical ICU to the floor – a common problem in hospitals nationwide— on the overall progress of care of the patient. We’re using our findings to implement strategies that will reduce delays, increase throughput, and ensure that patients continue to progress along their care pathway without any barriers.

What is one aspect of the residency program that you are passionate about?

The people. The residents and attendings here are smart. That was no surprise. But they are truly good people who are fun to be around, kind, caring and passionate about what they do. I’m extremely lucky to have them.

What challenges have you faced from being a resident and how did you overcome them?

Balancing my time has been a challenge. I have been overwhelmed by the number of opportunities and I’m trying to take on a lot of them at once. I have learned that it’s important to be selective in what you pursue. Also, always seek advice from others in this program, particularly the program director, chair and colleagues. These individuals are so open and interested in helping you sort through these challenges, whether it’s a clinical challenge you’re facing, a career question or a life thing.